The System Did It!

When Things Go Wrong, the Real Cause May Not Be the People

One of the most insightful observations on management was by organizational design expert Arthur W. Jones. It should be posted in conference rooms:

“All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get.”

I cannot tell you how often that maxim comes to mind when problems are discussed with executives and managers. The frequent tendency is to look for someone to blame and, since people have flaws, there are usually one or two easily available candidates for scrutiny. And yet the real cause may well be the system and not a person.

A brief example: I was once asked by a city manager to resolve a dispute between his city’s Public Works Department and the Purchasing Department.